News

Dear Friends,

“Journeys into the unknown shape who we are. We are indeed pilgrims together winding through an unknown country.”

This quote from Pastor Betty’s Order of Worship this past Sunday aptly expresses where we find ourselves in this time. When we last were able to gather in our Sanctuary on March 15, little did we know that we would still be worshiping virtually in mid-August. I found the message on Sunday encouraging as we forge ahead with our life’s journey in today’s world.
Many of us have achieved a degree of stability in our lives – we think we know what to expect on this journey and that has certainly been thrown out of kilter with the pandemic! We have expected firm answers about COVID-19 from our scientific and medical experts, while they are still in the process of discovering much of what we need to know. The public has become impatient when advice changes or scientific outcomes are unclear or seem to reverse.

As an aside, one of my husband’s favorite anecdotes relates to a conversation he had, as a first-year graduate student at UC Berkeley, with Professor Andrew Streitwieser. Prof. Streitwieser wisely advised him that in chemistry, in fact in all sciences, the questions never change, only the answers. I suspect that to be true for many disciplines beyond the sciences.
Maybe we have had a false sense of stability, for one can never be certain what the future holds for any of us, our community or our world. We do have the certainty that we are not alone on our journey, with our own unknowns. 

As part of the Mt. Tam Church family, we have one another, but most importantly, we have the assurance that God is with us. As Pastor Betty reminded us, we share a community that has weathered crises before, so we find the courage to go on and to strive to bring justice, kindness and love into our community.

With warmest wishes to all!

Karen Jernstedt

Dear Friends,

Faith matters. I don’t think it has ever mattered quite as much to me as during these last six months. The fear of catching COVID-19; the fear of giving it to a family member or friend; and, the isolation and loneliness that comes with sheltering-at-home have taken their toll. But through it all, my faith and my beloved Mt. Tam Church have kept me grounded in the knowledge that I am not alone and that God has my back – always. The sign in the church’s front yard this week reads “Blessed are the food providers for they sustain us.” Yes, they sure do and to all essential workers, we are so grateful. But I might also add a new one, “Blessed is my faith for it sustains me.”

The pandemic has brought with it a few gifts. One was to recognize the authentic, genuine loving kindness exhibited by members of this church. We don’t just talk the talk; we walk the walk! Jesus tells us to “Love one another as I have loved you.” As good Methodists, we have heard this verse dozens of times! We understand it. We believe it. And we do it! Love is what binds us all together, and yes, most of us have practiced this commandment for a very long time. The pandemic has magnified the need for that love, as well as the actions many have taken to share that love.

Faith is what helps me trust God in difficult times. Life, at the same time, has taught me that there will be difficult times. We can’t necessarily “pray them away.” I have come to fully embraceProverbs 3: 5-6:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Heavenly God, please strengthen our hearts, and remind us to encourage one another when the troubles of life overwhelm us. Please guard our hearts against depression. Give us the strength to get up each day and fight against the struggles which seek to weigh us down. Amen.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)

With love,

Sue Ernst

My beloved Mt. Tam Church,

Please tell me, how are you doing? I’d love to have each and every church member send me an email with the answer to that question.
For I miss being with you, seeing you, and being together in worship, as well as other settings. I feel the connection as we live stream. I imagine you in your homes worshiping and I miss being in the sanctuary.

I am praying that our proposal for beginning outdoor worship on September 13th is accepted and approved by the District Superintendent. I’m hoping that we will be allowed back into the sanctuary, all precautions taken, sometime soon.

In the meantime, how are you doing? It will do this pastor’s heart good to know. It can be a short response, a massive long one, a phone call, or even a text. And if you want to meet face-to-face, I’m ready! There are many locations and means to do that safely and confidentially. I look forward to that. I’m here. Let me know how you are and thank you!

Peace,

Pastor Kim

Pastor Kim will be on vacation from Monday, August 3rd through Tuesday, August 18th. Our “guest preacher” will be Pastor Betty Pagett, who will preach and lead the online live stream service on August 9th and 16th.

My beloved Mt. Tam Church,

It astonishes me how much “church” is going on while the church cannot gather together physically. While we have been meeting and worshipping online (since March 16), God has worked with and through us to:

• Create a new ministry, Tender Loving Care (TLC) Ministries, a program for trained lay members to reach out and connect with other lay members. Last month, dozens of contacts and calls were made. God at work through us!
• Given that we cannot host the Community Meal for the time being, the members who are core to that ministry have been in prayer about other opportunities to serve.
• The Community Ministry Team pivoted to other forms of service and last Saturday, eleven church and community members worked at the Food Bank. God at work through us!
• Eike & Winnie Konopath are serving each Tuesday at a pop-up pantry located at Marinships in Sausalito. This service is being provided in conjunction with mobile showers on that day. Sue Ernst picks up the food items from the Ritter House in San Rafael and delivers to the pop-up where E&W serve the homeless. We have reunited with several of our “regular” guests at our community meals at Mt. Tam! We proudly represent UMC Mt. Tam.  Well, God provides! 

Welcome to a new partner

• Trans Heartline House, a small home for transgender people who have had medical treatment and need a safe and quiet place for recovery and renewal. Sue Ernst, Marilynn Belek and Winnie Konopath will be attending a training next week on bringing groceries and meals to Trans Heartline House for the 3-6 residents there. This would be a GREAT service for families with children. God at work through us!

• Many of us joined in, and enjoyed, the Town Hall forums last week. The Wednesday forum was blessed with Hyunjung’s presence and she spontaneously started playing “Amazing Grace’ and we all sang. Which is bringing about a new fun and fellowship evening: HYMN SING! Tuesday, July 28th, 6 p.m., for 30 minutes. Full details and link above. Great for all ages!

In the meantime, the Return Team and Church Council work to perfect our proposals to the District Superintendent for returning to our buildings and in person worship. Jeff Brown is bringing home the installation of a new, state of the art recording system for high quality live streaming in the sanctuary. Tricia Wiig is perfecting a program of hybrid planning (some in person, some online) for youth and children. God at work through us!
Thanks be to God!

Peace,

Pastor Kim

My beloved Mt. Tam Church,

If there is one pastor’s letter I hope you read (and I hope you read them all), please read this one because it contains very important news for our congregation in terms of how we will be able to return to worship together in our sanctuary. Are you ready?

I hope so because getting ready for return is the name of the game right now which is presently taking about half of my time. In order to physically return to our buildings, we need to develop an extensive plan for the implementation of safety health guidelines and protocols. Then, we will need to submit a Return Request Report to the District Superintendent for approval and fill out the Site-Specific Protection Plan (SSPP) for the County of Marin. Once we have all the approvals we can implement our plan. Of course, we’ll need all the preparations ready and the people to make it work. That’s a lot and it might take a while to get all that to the goal line. Up to 3 months, in fact.

Given that, here is the tentative plan: we will continue our current format of online live streaming through the end of August into September. If we receive approval, we will begin in-person worship outside on September 13th, for 4-6 Sundays, as the weather holds. Prayerfully and hopefully, by then we will have our approvals and will be able to move back into the sanctuary around November 1st. Please remember, this is all dependent on plan approval, the restrictions of the times, and our ability to successfully execute our plan.
Worship will be different (more on that later). Many of you have asked for more specific plans, but this is the best I can offer you at the moment. I wish I could be more firm about dates and conditions, but given our situation this is what we have. Thank God for God’s grace and love which abounds us, fills us, and guides us while being with us!

If you want to be part of a conversation, sign up to participate in the town hall meeting after worship Sunday. The link is in this Faith matters. You voice is important and I look forward to this congregational conversation together. 
Peace, 

Pastor Kim

Dear Mt. Tam Church,

As you read this, we’ll be wrapping up another week of Peace Camp, this year on Zoom! While meeting virtually isn’t quite the same as meeting in person (I realized how much I missed the children and the energy that they bring when we all meet together in Fellowship Hall), it was really sweet to meet with these 10 peace campers online, along with our adult leaders. It was extra special to have two of our former church children, James and Rose, join us from their new home in Southern California, and to have one camper all the way from Berlin, Germany (my friend’s daughter). A big thanks to Sue Ernst, Kathy McMahon, Kristen Choi and Dan Silin for their time and leadership at Peace Camp!

I’m so glad we went ahead with virtual peace camp this summer, because we’ve since learned that our annual conference isn’t allowing in-person camps or mission trips to take place this year and I would have been so sad to have had to cancel it! Well, when you’re given lemons, you make lemonade! And what great lemonade we’re making (metaphorically!). Everyone needs some peace right now, and there’s always more to learn about being peace-making people. I hope that this week of Peace Camp inspires our kids to stand up for themselves, their friends, all people and our earth. Working for justice and peace is always the right thing to do.

Usually, the Sunday following camp, the children are invited to join us in worship to display their art, sing peace camp songs and share what they’ve learned about being peacemakers. This year, since we can’t meet in person, we will have 2 of our peace campers join us for online worship as our special singers: brothers Jake and Charlie. I hope you’ll join us so you can catch a little bit of that peace camp spirit and feel empowered to be peacemakers too!

With love and blessings,

Tricia Wiig